Virginia landowners on Monday lost their bid to have the US Supreme Court hear their case challenging Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC from using portions of their properties for its natural gas project.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Mountain Valley for the more-than-300-mile-long pipeline. That gave the company the power to condemn property using eminent domain under the Natural Gas Act. It did so on the land at issue here, after the landowners said they wouldn’t sell their properties.
The landowners argued in their January 2020 complaint that the condemnation was barred by the nondelegation doctrine, which blocks Congress from delegating its legislative powers to another entity. FERC therefore shouldn’t have been able to issue the certificate public convenience and necessity to the company for the pipeline, the landowners said.
The US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in February affirmed a federal district court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction. The Supreme Court in December declined to temporarily stop work on the section of the pipeline going through the properties.
The landowners were represented by Yugo Collins PLLC.
The case is Bohon v. FERC, U.S., No. 23-1053, 5/20/24.
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